At any one moment in time
by Sunset-leaf
Summary: What could be happening now? An excerpt into the life of NCIS from a snapshot point of view. Alternate world where Kate is alive, and pairings include KateDiNozzo, McGeeAbby and GibbsJen. Ducky and Palmer also feature.


At any one moment in time 

In various places spread across Washington D.C, eight people were all enjoying a moment of some kind. All these moments would in time be forgotten, but at this moment each was special in its own right.

As the credits rolled, Tony DiNozzo looked down to his left where Caitlin Todd lay nestled in his arms. Her eyelids were closed, and a small amount of dribble had pooled at the corner of her mouth. As he watched her, he couldn't help but smile to himself. She was cute when she slept, in a sort of non-obvious way. Look twice and you would see the grace and elegance in which she held herself, even in unconsciousness. A single strand of her dark hair had fallen across her face and now tickled her left eye. He reached over with his spare hand, gently swept it away and tucked it behind her ear. She stirred a little but didn't wake up. Tony continued to gaze at her face. Every day he thanked whoever was up there for every minute he spent with her, wishing that each one would never end. He enjoyed watching her when she slept; it was probably the only time that they didn't argue. But even when they did, they both remembered that behind each tiny insult was a mountain of love and affection waiting to spill from their lips. It was funny, Tony thought, how he had come to love this woman so deeply, when at one time he had held her in such contempt. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her head, taking in the scent of her hair. He smiled again. He could smell the shampoo he had given her for Christmas. He loved her so much, but one thing niggled at the back of his mind.

"I can't believe she fell asleep in the middle of 'Goldfinger'."

Timothy McGee entered his apartment and hung his coat on the peg behind the door.

"Honey! I'm home," he yelled. 'God, that was such a cliché' he thought. He walked into the living room and noticed a trail of red rose petals littering the floor. Curiously he followed them through the door leading to the bedroom. The petals continued to the foot of the bed where the bedding had been changed to a deep scarlet silk. Rose petals, again, were scattered across it. Soft music was playing from the CD player on the bedside table and candles lined the walls, burning brightly. He could smell vanilla in the air and he smiled. She knew that was his favourite. But where was she?

"Abby?" said McGee.

"I'm in here," he heard from behind the bathroom door. He opened it to find a naked woman in the bathtub. Abby Scuito's hair was wet and even darker than usual, which you would have thought was impossible. Even in the bath her eyes were darkened and her lips stained a deep rouche. God, he loved this woman. She smiled. "I thought you could join me?" she said seductively. McGee had already started to undress. Within seconds he had stripped and slid into the bath behind Abby. She lay against his chest, McGee's strong muscular arms surrounding her. The bathroom had been laid out to follow suit with the bedroom, rose petals swirling in the bathwater and candles glowing all around them. They could still hear the music playing in the other room.

"I love you, you know that, right?" said McGee.

"Yes," replied Abby, and hugged McGee's arms tightly around her chest. "I love you too, Tim" Everything was going so well and every bit as romantic as she had hoped. And then McGee had to ruin it. He let out a loud fart into the bathwater.

"McGEE!"

Jennifer Shepard rolled over in the bed to find Leroy Jethro Gibbs looking back. He had not one hair out of place; how was that even possible? He had been hard at work only a few minutes ago. She smiled anyway, and faced him. He slowly looked up and down her body, taking in every detail; she still had the body of a 25 year old. He could stare at her all day long and would never get tired of it.

"How are you?" she asked softly, still smiling.

"Me? I'm just fine" he replied. "How are you?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"I'm just dandy."

"Dandy?" he scoffed.

"What? That's what my dad used to say."

"After sex?"

"NO!" she replied outraged, even as she entered her 40's she still had no intention of ever coming round to the idea or her father and her mother. Jethro just laughed. "It's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't!"

"Er, yes it is," he replied, grabbing her arms and rolling on top of her. Jen struggled to move.

"Damn you, Jethro; looks like I'm going to have to remind you who's boss," she said.

Over at the NCIS head quarters, two men were still working deep in the basement of the building.

"Right then, Palmer, what are your first observations?" asked Donald Mallard to a young and very tired Jimmy Palmer.

"So, why are we starting this now again?" he replied sleepily.

"Because you need to get all the experience you can get, Palmer, if you ever want to run your own morgue."

"I do, Doc, but it is so late." Ducky looked at the clock on the desk at the side of the room. It read 00:44am.

"It's actually very early, Palmer. You see it's the attention to detail that you seem to lack."

"Sorry, Doc."

"Look it's no good apologising, just do something about it. Why do you think we're here in the middle of the night?"

"To gain experience?"

"That was a rhetorical question Palmer? Sometimes I do wonder about you," said Ducky, now rather exasperated.

"Sorry, Doc." Ducky just stared at him in amazement. He shook himself and turned his attention to the moment in hand.

"Right, now, first observations." Palmer moved closer to the body and looked closely at the burnt corpse.

"Well the victim is severely burnt, fingers are…(yawn)…are too burnt for fingerprints to be of any use and um…(yawns again)…um…" Palmer's eyelids drooped and his shoulders hunched over.

"PALMER!" shouted Ducky, and Palmer's eyes snapped open again.

"Wh, what?"

"First observations please, Palmer! You know you remind me of a young lad I knew a long time ago; he was once my assistant too, you know. He always used to…" Palmer's eyelids drooped again.


End file.
